Using your Ham Gear with your Cordless telephone.
Just Waking up, 5 AM EST on May 14th 2003, and I finally know why I purchased a new 2 line Cordless telephone.
Quickly, I Got on 3885 KHz the "AM window, 3875-3895 KHz." on 75 meters using my trusty Heathkit DX-100, which I've been using since I bought it kit form with my newspaper route money in 1958, on Amplitude Modulation and excitedly told my friend Dirk a tron, WA2CYT, a fellow Vermonter up near the Canadian Border the following;
Dirk, Later this Saturday I will put my FT-1000MP Yaesu transceiver on LSB on 75 meters 3834 KHz. with my phone patch and VOX on and hook my phone patch to the Second Line Telephone Input on my New, Panasonic Cordless Telephone base station. Finally, I consciously knew why I spent the extra $20 for the two line version cordless telephone. The cordless, two line phone, allows me to roam the woods in the beautiful forest I caretake for the LORD, and yack with my ham radio buddies, while disturbing the peace and tranquility of the forest. Walking along, hands free, phone in shirt pocket, speaker phone on, while being up to 800 feet away from the house. This is definitely, almost Dick Tracy time. My friends voices emanating from my shirt pocket, occasionally interrupted by my own voice speaking with them on 75 meters. Yes indeed, even while on cordless 75 meter intercom, if someone calls me on the normal telephone on Line 1, I can conference them into the 75 meter QSO or speak with them privately and then when finished, return to my ham QSO. Those without a 2 or more line phone, can have less but similar fun using their Cordless, "Intercom" function, or just dedicate a single line phone to their ham station phone patch. Needless to say but, " It works fine" And all I did was hook up a old home brew phone patch to my olde Yaesu FT-1000MP HF Transceiver, with VOX on. Yes ! Longer delay VOX even works on AM. Either remote will send audio and DTMF to the base unit on line 2 if no telephone line is connected using the intercom mode. Just add a DTMF Decoder to the phone patch and control away from your remote cordless keypad. If you own a extra single line cordless phone just dedicate it to your phone patch, ham rig.
I use the Panasonic 2.4 Gig KX-TG2720S Series, dual band, 2.4 GHz and .9 GHz Cordless Model. This model has no answering machine and 2 lines. You might consider adding a different 2700 Series Model if required with an answering machine if you don't have Telephone Company Voice mail and a 4 line model if you have more than One Normal Telephone Line from the Phone company. This 2700 model series cordless phone was the best of 7 models I recently tested in the last 3 weeks. I tested various models carried by Wal Mart, Best Buy and Staples.
Tested models in the $200 and lower price range. The higher
priced, longer range EnGenius
models weren't tested.
The Big 2 on 5.8 Gig V Tech 5831 + Uniden
The New Panasonic 5.8 Gig will be out sometime this June
And 5 Other makes on 2.4 Gig by V Tech, Panasonic and others
The Two line Panasonic 2.4 Gig KX-TG2700 Series was only
$115 after Panasonic $35 Rebate, which is good for all 2700 models. It is carried
by Best Buy and Staples ( possibly, soon to be carried by Wal Mart ) and easily goes 1.5 times
further in all terrain and has the best ( non digital) sound receiving and
transmitting of all 7 tested models. In all models the two band models
always won with their better base station receiver de-sensitization performance. The
5.8 Gig models might carry further in a perfectly clear field, but the moment a
bush or tree appears they die quickly compared to the lower frequency 2.4 Gig
Models. The 5.8 Gigahertz V Tech 5831 and 2.4 Gig 2431 had different speaker phone performance, with no annoying noise gate
audio muting but too much audio range gain, and didn't have any where near the RF
distance range of the 2.4 Gig 2700 series Panasonics. Interestingly, the winning
Panasonic, has two individual antennas, with 9 1/2 inches of horizontal
separation. Both antennas are center fed, coaxial vertical dipoles, one cut for
.9 GHz and the other one cut for 2.4 GHz which could be easily replaced with
rooftop antennas with two low loss feedlines for even greater range. This
Panasonic 2700 series phone, which out distances them all, will go 700 to 800
feet of range outdoors through a second floor window and easily cover over 1000
feet with external roof top antennas on the base station.
For the review I only tested models that had the following minimum options;
Full Duplex, RF paths
Full Duplex ( audio ) Speakerphones in Both Base station and Handsets
Full Caller ID Function, including call waiting readout
Digital Spread Spectrum, (DSS) for Privacy
Dialer in Base Station
Expandable Handsets, for future
No Answering Machine, as I use Telephone Company, Central Office Voice Mail
The Panasonic 2700 series are on sale with a $35 Rebate everywhere. I also like Best Buy's 2 year unlimited Warrantee for a additional $ 17.50
Cordless Phone Review Was Only Possible, Thanks to
Francis, N1EXF 's and Dirk, WA2CYT 's Assistance and Patience
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01/24/2005